the first month of school, mason was named student of the month for his class. he got to bring home this sign to put in the front yard for the month. we are so proud of this kid!! he is doing great in school! we found out that his teacher specialized in gifted and talented education and helped put together a grant to establish a gifted and talented program in all the schools in the district and i know she does her best to keep mason busy at his level! mason has worked with the gifted and talented teacher several times and i believe they just started testing for that area last week....fingers crossed we can benefit from it! i volunteer in his class once a week and usually work on reading or alphabet skills with the kids. i LOVE going!! it makes me realize just how much i miss working in an elementary school! i hope to get back there someday when our kids are older :)
this is mason's school picture. that's my cute boy!
the past 3 years we have lived in texas, curtis' family has been able to join us for thanksgiving. unfortunately that wasn't a possibility this year but curtis' younger brother and his mom were able to come down the first week of november and we celebrated an early thanksgiving. curtis' mom was here for about a week and a half and we had lots of fun with grandma here for halloween...she got to be involved with all the activities of pumpkin decorating, trick or treating and trunk or treating at our ward's fall festival. she also got to go with us to mason's kindergarten costume parade which was so much fun! they played halloween music over the loud speakers through the school and the kindergarteners paraded through the halls as the older grades lined the hallways to watch them. grandma also ate lunch with mason at his school one day and spent lots of time spoiling the kids...that's what grandmas do best!! curtis and i were also able to get away for a night while grandma stayed with the kiddos which was a lot of fun and much needed!
this picture is all 4 of the kindergarten classes together...the teachers were dressed up as minions
this is mason's class....he is the skeleton on the bottom right next to superman
while curtis' family was here, we found out that my mom and cousin would also be headed our way. it is rare to have visitors from one side of the family let alone visitors from both sides of the family and at the same time!! my cousin served in the dallas mission (although he never got to go this far south for us to see him) and was planning on moving down here after he got home. things changed at the last minute and he decided to stay in utah but he needed to come pick up some things so my mom came along for the ride...who can resist a trip to visit grandkids?
we decided to celebrate brooklyn's birthday a few days early while we had everyone here. its hard to believe that my mom was able to be here exactly one year after she was here for little b's arrival.
what a year it has been. shortly after b was born we found out that her thyroid levels came back abnormal in her newborn screening tests done at the hospital resulting in what could be congenital hypothyroidism. this is about when my heart dropped into my stomach and the anxiety hit. our doctor explained to us that the newborn tests were created to show any sign, how minimal it may be, and that brooklyn's abnormality was barely above what is considered normal range. we had to take her in for several more blood tests and keep an eye on her. after two or three tests and several weeks of worry, b's tests started coming back normal and the doctor told us we were in the clear. with that out of the way we just had to deal with the norms of baby...no sleep, lots a crying and working on feeding and coordinating schedules. i feel like 3 kids was such a huge adjustment and much, much harder than i expected. we definitely had a lot of difficult days but somehow we survived!! let me just say: girls are hard. both of ours have given us a run for our money. i am absolutely dreading the teenage years....two strong willed, independent girls who are 2 1/2 years apart? yikes. somebody save me. b is already perfecting the tantrum throwing. she lays on the floor and flops about, kicks and screams. she will also let you know if you are making her mad, either yelling at you or swatting you away. she started walking at 10 months. the earliest of my kids. she never stops moving. seriously. never. she climbs everything and when she gets to the top, throws her hands in the air and starts jumping up and down as some kind of victory dance. we have a child sized table with chairs--she has conquered that. sophie's toddler bed--that's her favorite. she has already tried scaling a dresser and when she failed at that she learned how to open the drawers and pull the clothes out. i am constantly walking into bedrooms and finding clean clothes strewn about. she is a major girly girl which i love because sophie is much more tom boy. b LOVES shoes...loves them. she finds stashes of them in their closet then brings them to me so i can put them on her. she loves baby dolls and pushing them in the doll stroller. she can put necklaces on by herself and will strut around the house with them. she is so loving and sweet. i am really going to miss the cuddles and hugs she gives me. she is crazy about her siblings. they love playing together although sophie can get a little rough sometimes. maybe the reason she can't sit still is because she is determined to keep up with the older two. her hair is a pretty honey color....lighter than mason's but not as blonde as sophie's. seriously this girl has captured the hearts of everyone in our family.
present time! of course she had plenty of help!
the whole time grandma steph was here, b had her wallet. this present was an effort to get grandma's back to her. i think it has worked well so far. she loves packing this thing around with a little fake money inside of it.
the light doesn't really make this a great picture but i LOVE the look on brooklyn's face!
this is b's smash cake. i made it the night before we celebrated...took a picture then put a plastic bowl over the top of it. sophie climbed up on the counter a few hours later and says "whats this?" as she flips the bowl upside down. i cried.
that smash cake i had cried about? turned out to not be a hit anyway. b wouldn't touch it. she just cried. she never even took one bite.
we loved seeing everyone! thanks for coming to visit!
we played dress up and took some photos :)
happy birthday beautiful!
i am so thankful for my life. i have an amazing husband...amazing. i love my kids. they really know how to push my buttons but they also make me so happy my heart could burst! i am so grateful for our wonderful family and for everything they do. we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. even though we are unable to be with you, you are in our hearts!
Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!
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